TURKEY: 17 WOMEN KILLED, 26 COMMIT SUICIDE IN 2 MONTHS

More examples of Muslim equality for women.

FROM ANSIMED.INFO:   


TURKEY: 17 WOMEN KILLED, 26 COMMIT SUICIDE IN 2 MONTHS

(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, MARCH 18 - A total of 43 women lost their lives (17 murdered and 26 committed suicide) in eastern and south-eastern Anatolia alone in the opening two months of this year. These figures appear in the pro-government newspaper, Sabah, which cites as its source Birgul Kitay, the head of the Ka-Mer (Women's Centre)Women's Association in Bingol, in this Kurdish majority eastern part of Turkey. The area rose to prominence in news reports a few days ago when a man, who had been given a three-month sentence for beating his wife, six-months into pregnancy with her fifth child, cut off his wifés nose and ears as a punishment for having reported him. According to the figures supplied by Ka-Mer, the first 59 days of this year saw nine women victims of domestic violence in the South-East of the country alone; five were killed for reasons unknown will another three were victims of "honour killings": accused or suspected of having sullied the good name of the family. The same region saw a further 16 women and 10 girls take their own lives, almost all under family pressure, and almost all for "reasons of honour". "Honour" killings remain a sore on the face of Turkish society despite recent efforts by the government in Ankara to stiffen penalties for those found guilty of them. According to a report presented last year in Istanbul by John Austin, a British MEP at the Council of Europe, there is at least one death every week in Turkey in connection with "honour". More than one thousand one hundred women were killed in this way during the five-year period 2003-2007. (ANSAmed).